The company was started by Theodore Lyman Shaw, a member of an upper class family from Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Shaw was involved in a number of business projects, including the Marcus Lucius Quinn School of Music in Dorchester.

In the early 1920s, Grey Gull discs were recorded and manufactured at a plant at 81 Wareham Street in Boston ("Local Studio," C7; Boston Globe classified ad, 21 August 1920, p. 9) The first issues of Grey Gull were high-quality, vertical-cut discs sold at premium prices.

A New York Times mention on 24 April 1926, p. 31 said Grey Gull had leased offices on the fifth floor of 20 East 42nd Street in Manhattan.

A good example of Shaw's strategy of placing the racks in a wide variety of locations can be seen in an ad for Ruth's Drug Store in Elyria, Ohio.

The druggist, Dr. Robert J. Ruth, offered to demonstrate the records to those who came into his store (Elyria Chronicle Telegram, 3 June 1922, p. 9).

Mike Mosiello contributed instrumentals (many often released on several issues with varying titles) which, apart from solo work by himself and Andy Sannella, often featured the accordionist Charles Magnante and xylophone virtuoso George Hamilton Green.

The label did more of its own recording after 1926 with a house band that included trumpeter Mike Mosiello and clarinetist Andy Sannella.